The present invention relates to protective head gear and, more particularly, to leather firefighter helmets and methods for making such leather firefighting helments.
The popularity of leather firefighting helmets has seen a substantial increase in recent years. Despite this increase in popularity, only a small percentage of firefighting companies use leather helmets due to the relatively high cost and low durability of the leather helmets.
There are several known versions of leather firefighting helmets commercially available. Such leather helmets include an outer leather covering attached to an inner liner made from a solid or polycarbonate resin material. A disadvantage with leather helmets constructed in such a way is that the leather coverings have portions which are loosely attached or glued to the inner solid liners. Over extensive use of the helmet and the extreme conditions in which the firefighters typically find themselves, because the leather helmets are constructed in such a way, the outer leather coverings of the helmets typically begin to shrink and crack.
Another disadvantage with conventional leather firefighting helmets is that they are typically constructed from vegetable tanned leather, which is easy to work with. However, the vegetable tanned leather does not have high heat resistance.
Accordingly, there is a need for a leather firefighting helmet which has an outer leather liner which resists shrinkage and cracking and which also has a relatively high heat resistance; and accordingly has longer life.